Critics reviews

Evoking a perverted pastoral poetry, the film’s natural environments are cast in a hazy blue light and evoke otherworldliness that contributes to the film’s fairy tale quality. The film’s final act unexpectedly showcases an extravagant horror set piece with otherworldly demons descending upon the small farm house.

[Screenwriter Aleksandr] Ptushko also provided Viy’s simple yet ebullient, ingeniously deployed visual effects. Perhaps to clear ground for a work in a genre held in such opprobrium by the authorities, Viy offers a wry, even comic take on horror film, albeit one that also works up a peculiar intensity in its second half.

Those interested in Viy only as an exotic horror film about witches will not be disappointed: Ptushko and his crew make almost no changes to the script from Gogol’s short story, and as a result, the film acts as a perfect synthesis of Gogol’s dark sense of humor and Ptushko’s talent for practical effects.